‘Wonder Woman’ Gearing Up for Serious Oscar Campaign

It takes a lot for Academy voters to recognize or even acknowledge a superhero film, but perhaps the highest-grossing film to ever be directed by a woman could do the trick. With a worldwide box office gross of $781 million (to date) and a 92 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, Wonder Woman is a certified hit. Critics and audiences alike have fallen head over heels for Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot’s solo superhero film, but can Warner Bros. get Oscar voters to do the same?

According to Variety, WB is launching a serious Oscar campaign for Wonder Woman, including a push for Best Director and Best Picture. With the exception of Heath Ledger’s posthumous Best Actor win for The Dark Knight, the Oscars typically only recognize superhero films for their technical achievements. But the Academy recently moved to diversify its ranks with the addition of more women, people of color, and younger voters (including Gal Gadot) — which has WB feeling fairly optimistic about Wonder Woman’s Oscar chances.

Should the campaign succeed, Patty Jenkins would be the first director to ever receive a nod for helming a superhero film, and the first woman nominated since Kathryn Bigelow won the Best Director Oscar for The Hurt Locker in 2010. Yes, it’s really been almost eight years since a female director received an Oscar nomination.

Blockbusters can and have been recognized by the Academy in the past; expanding the number of Best Picture nominees from five to a possible total of 10 has allowed for the inclusion of more films — like costly summer blockbusters — that may not have made the cut in previous years. That includes WB’s own Mad Max: Fury Road, which received 10 Oscar nominations and took home six statues.